Luke Mayhew has been appointed to succeed Sir Geoff Mulcahy as chairman of the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
Mr Mayhew is currently chairman of Pets at Home and a non-executive director of WH Smith and Brambles Limited, the parent company of pallet pooling business Chep.

Prior to this he served as managing director of John Lewis for five years and was on the board of John Lewis Partnership for 13 years.

He has also held senior positions at Shandwick, British Airways and Thomas Cook, having started his career at the Department of Trade and Industry.

Stephen Robertson, the BRC's director general, said: "Luke brings a wide background of retail leadership together with an excellent understanding of how government and the media work.

"The BRC is fortunate to have the benefit of Luke's experience and I look forward to working with him during these challenging times for retail.

"I would also like to pay tribute to Sir Geoff Mulcahy. The BRC has greatly gained from his vast retail knowledge during his three year chairmanship. He has helped to build an outstanding organisation to serve the retail sector."

Luke Mayhew will take up his post at the BRC on the 1 May 2009.